http://www.popmatters.com...tony.shtml
Excerpt follows (original is a looong article):

Now, in 2003, Sputnikworld is releasing two new discs for the faithful. The first is Ultra Real, the fourth proper studio album of all new material from Sigue Sigue Sputnik. The second is the long-lost This Is What I Like . . . album from James's other concept band, Fin de Siecle. This is the Sputnik story, but there's something about the charm and exuberance of the Fin de Siecle project that is a reflection of Tony James overall, so we'll tackle that first.

If Sigue Sigue Sputnik was James's version of the King in the future, then Fin de Siecle was his take on Prince. Conceived of as a band that would espouse a high society hedonism in the form of music that leaned heavily on Sign O' the Times, Fin de Siecle could have been an over-sexed sensation. Unlike the futurism of SSS, FdS was an organic funk band, propelled on some serious Eurotrash winds and doing away with whatever subtlety might have made some of Prince's material radio-friendly.

Tracks like "Fuck of the Century", "3Some", and "You Know You Want to Be Seduced" leave little to the imagination from the titles alone. For those who are only familiar with James through Generation X and/or Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Fin de Siecle might come as something of a shock. Most of these songs are R&B/funk grooves, slow grinds that work on sensual beats and stripper-worthy bass lines, peppered by some symphonic synths and pianos. Additionally, all pretenses of social decay, hypercapitalism, or teenaged rebellion are gone. This album is about sex and sex alone. There are a couple of near-ballads to give the disc a loving touch, but even these are love odes to doing the nasty. For better or worse, This Is What I Like... is funk music to get it on to.

Keeping in mind that this disc is simply roughly mastered copies of demos, there are two things which keep this album from being immediately successful on its own. The first is simply the recording quality. Straight from demos, the levels are weak and the tracks watered down a bit, making the vocals seem a little distant and flat at times. However, you can't fault a demo recording for these failures. The other problem is vocalist William Hamer. For 90% of the disc, Hamer's voice is decent enough at conveying the smooth and seductive mood of Fin de Siecle's music, but when he reaches for the highest ranges of his falsetto, well, he's no Prince. Again, this can also be attributed in part to the demo quality of the tracks. However, as a fun, sexy album to throw on in the background while you're looking to do the nasty, it works. Fin de Siecle is an extension of the same James persona who wears homemade "Womb Raider" T-shirts while playing with SSS, and it's yet another footnote in James's long struggle to find a concept niche in the music industry.

That is the worst piece of news I have ever read, I remember sputnik from way back..they were a pile of crap and don't even have the right to mention Prince in the same breath!

starbass said:

Wernt they something to do with the russian satalite???

"Then, brothers, it came. Oh, bliss, bliss and heaven. I lay all nagoy
to the ceiling, my gulliver on my rookers on the pillow, glazzies closed,
rot open in bliss, slooshying the sluice of lovely sounds. Oh, it was
gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched
redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise
silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts
and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders.
And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine
flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo
above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk
around my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum,
into the thick thick toffee gold and silver... and indeed when the music,
which was one movement only, rose to the top of its big highest tower,
then, lying there on my bed with glazzies tight shut and rookers behind
my gulliver, I broke and spattered and cried aaah with the bliss of it.
And so the lovely music glided to its glowing close."

Their first wrekka ROCKED!

Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

The Monkees of punk rock.